News Center

Posted on Jan 11, 2013

Torrance, CA, Jan. 8, 2013 - Torrance Memorial Medical Center has received the American College of Cardiology Foundation's National Cardiovascular Data Registry
® (NCDR) ACTION Registry
® - Get With The Guidelines
TM (GWTG) Gold Performance Achievement Award for 2012 - one of only 26 hospitals nationwide to do so. The award recognizes Torrance Memorial Medical Center's commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients, and signifies that the Torrance Memorial Lundquist Cardiovascular Institute has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.

"The American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association commend Torrance Memorial Medical Center for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols. The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention guideline-recommended therapy is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients," Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, FACC, FAHA, ACTION Registry-GWTG Steering Committee Chair and Director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center and James Jollis, MD, FACC, ACTION Registry-GWTG Co-Chair and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Duke University Hospital.

"The number of acute myocardial infarction patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing incidence of heart disease and a large aging population. The time is right for Torrance Memorial to be focused on improving the quality of cardiovascular care by implementing ACTION Registry-GWTG," said Mark Lurie, M.D., F.A.C.C., director, Lundquist Cardiovascular Institute, Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

ACTION Registry-GWTG is a partnership between the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association with partnering support from the American College of Emergency Physicians, Society of Chest Pain Centers and the Society of Hospital Medicine. ACTION Registry-GWTG empowers health care provider teams to consistently treat heart attack patients according to the most current, science-based guidelines and establishes a national standard for understanding and improving the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided for patients with coronary artery disease, specifically high-risk STEMI and NSTEMI patients.

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About Torrance Memorial Medical Center:

Founded in 1925 by Jared Sydney and Helena Childs Torrance, Torrance Memorial Medical Center is a locally governed, 401-bed, non-profit medical center established to provide quality healthcare services, predominantly to the residents of the South Bay, Peninsula and Harbor communities. Torrance Memorial seeks to offer the most current and effective medical technologies rendered in a compassionate, caring manner. For more information please visit: www.TorranceMemorial.org.

About Get With The Guidelines

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's hospital-based quality improvement program that empowers healthcare teams to save lives and reduce healthcare costs by helping hospitals follow evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. For more information, visit
www.heart.org/quality.